Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be worthwhile for this House, or a committee of the House, to have a debate on rates and the value of the contribution from business. It would be relevant in the context of the debate we will be having in the months ahead on water and other charges. In addition to the national arrangements I have outlined, there will be plenty of opportunity for reports to collect and analyse data and it is important to highlight the role of elected members of each local authority. As well as setting the level of commercial rates to be levied, as part of the annual local authority budget process councillors have an important role in overseeing the work of the council executive in running their local authority. It is vital that elected members in individual local authorities use the powers available to them in this regard as this provides a mechanism for oversight at a local level where the local circumstances of individual local authorities can be taken into account. There are a lot of reports that need to be debated, locally and nationally, and maybe the Seanad could feed into that debate.